Persian Utterance Final Intonation (PUFIN)
This project investigates the sentence final intonation of Persian, an understudied language.
The melody of speech
The melody of speech carries meaning alongside words, often signalling more than words alone can convey. The ends of phrases are especially rich in these melodic cues: a slight rise or fall in pitch can turn a statement into a question, mark politeness, or call for someone’s attention.
Yet, despite their importance for everyday communication, Persian intonational patterns remain far less studied than those of many other languages. Our preliminary research suggests that Persian offers unique insights into how melodies at the word and sentence levels interact, broadening our understanding of intonation patterns across the world’s languages.
About this project
For this project, we will carry out experimental studies of Persian intonation. We'll begin with the tune used for calling, and extend to other phrase-final patterns such as questions or continuation melodies.
The findings will:
- advance linguistic knowledge
- aid Persian language teaching
- inform speech technology
- raise the visibility of an understudied language
Find out more
- Dr Cong Zhang's website
- researcher profile: Dr Cong Zhang, Lecturer in Phonetics and Phonology
Acknowledgements
The funding body is the British Institute of Persian Studies.